Hanging by a Moment
by DarkShadowFlame
Summary: The Dark Hand have all been round up and Valmont is facing a 15 year prison service. But he can’t get a certain child out of his mind... Throw in a little age spell and an assassin, and you’ve got some JadeValmont fluff. One-shot songfic with prologue
1. Valmont's musings

Hanging By A Moment

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Summary: The Dark Hand have all been round up and Valmont is facing a 15 year prison service. But he can't get a certain _child_ out of his mind. Throw in a little age spell and an assassin, and you've got some Jade/Valmont fluff. Songfic, Hanging by a Moment

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Pairings: Jade/Valmont. I know, I know. I even disgust myself. Oh yeah, and a mention of Jackie/Viper. :-P

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Disclaimer: Don't own Jackie Chan Adventures. I don't own the song "Hanging by a Moment," either, I just shamelessly use it.

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A/N: Pfff… I should have seen this coming. Due to the new rule, I'm not supposed to have a second chapter for author's notes. But I don't want to lose what reviews I have (hehe, by the way, thanks everyone!) so I'm just splitting the story into two short parts. ::shrug:: No biggie. This first part is super short, you can read it as a prologue or introduction.

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Added 1/13/04: ::looks at old summary and barfs:: Oh my _god_, I can't believe I wrote that. How did I get _any_ readers? Maybe the intrigue-factor… -_- Well, I changed it slightly, hopefully to inform people about the fic/protest that I'm not a sicko.

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Desperate for changing

Starving for truth

Closer to where I started

Chasing after you

Valmont tossed and turned on the narrow, dirty cot in his jail cell. He couldn't sleep. Why not? He should be sleeping like a baby now, his blissful dreams filled with the thought of freedom. For the prospective life-sentence had been reduced to 15 years. 10 if he was good.

It was nothing short of a miracle, really, Valmont mused as he sat up on the cot, abandoning all hopes of sleep. That lawyer had been like a gift from God. And maybe it had been a gift. A message. When he got out of here, she would be at least 20.

Jade had come to his trial, of course. She followed her uncle everywhere, and Chan had to testify against him. Probably one of the reasons he'd gotten off so easily was that Chan very well couldn't talk about how Valmont had helped free an evil demon.

Valmont hadn't paid attention to Chan's testimony. Or any of the trial, as a matter of fact. He'd kept his eyes glued to her face. Jade had noticed him watching, but for once she didn't stick her tongue out, or screw up her face, or anything immature (but appropriate for her age). She'd watched him back, curiously, her eyes full of innocence. Valmont had forced himself to look away.

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I'm falling even more in love with you

Letting go of all I've held onto

I'm standing here until you make me move

I'm hanging by a moment here with you

Oh, what am I doing? he moaned. _This is ridiculous. I'm 31. I cannot fall in love with a child, an 11 year old child!_

But he hadn't always been 31. In fact, when he'd first met Jade Chan, he was 11 years old too, and she was a prisoner of time. He'd seen her for the briefest of minutes, but had fallen for her. How foolish was that- the girl had threatened to kill him! But he hadn't been able to forget her…

For 20 years, he hadn't thought about the full implications of the fact that she was from the future. He'd merely assumed that he'd meet up with her someday, and sweep her into his arms, and everything would be perfect. He knew he'd recognize her.

Well, of course he recognized her. He'd forgotten two important things: she was from twenty years into the future. He'd only grown older, but she hadn't aged at all; in fact, she was younger than he remembered her. Of _course_. How could he have forgotten that?

The other thing he'd forgotten was that she hated him.

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Forgetting all I'm lacking

Completely incomplete

I'll take your invitation

You take all of me

Shendu had known. He'd known everything. One of Shendu's favorite punishments was taunting Valmont about his obsession. He had taken particular pleasure explaining how Hsi Wu, the sky demon, had seduced her. Well, as far as an 11 year old can be seduced. Valmont's heart broke everytime he pictured Jade talking with Hsi Wu, laughing with Hsi Wu, asking the demon to her school's dance… how innocent. How sad. Which was exactly what Shendu had been aiming for, of course.

Then there was the time when that crazy sorcerer had turned him into a child again. He'd been as old as Jade! He would be able to grow up with her, share with her, and when the time was right, they could…

But it had come as a shock, and all he could think about was getting back to normal. It was only afterwards that he realized what he had done, what he had thrown away.

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And to think, Valmont mused. _If I had stayed a child, I wouldn't be here now. What a fool I was… what I wouldn't give for a second chance at life, a second chance with her._

Valmont smiled suddenly. Yes, when he got out of here, she would be in her twenties. And then, he could find a spell. A spell that might be the key to getting just what he wanted…

He wanted _Jade_.

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Now… I'm falling even more in love with you

Letting go of all I've held onto

I'm standing here until you make me move

I'm hanging by a moment here with you


	2. Hanging by a moment

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11 years later

Jade stepped off the plane and practically flew into her uncle's arms. "Jackie! I missed you so much!" she exclaimed.

"Jade?" came her uncle's strangled reply. She was hugging him tightly around the middle. "You've grown so much!"

She beamed at him. "Yup! Just turned 22 last month. So how's life? Beat up any bad guys lately?"

They began walking towards the baggage claim. "I can't believe it's been ten whole years since I last saw you!" Jade told him.

"I know," Jackie responded. "But I'm glad you decided to come back to America and visit Uncle and Tohru and me."

"And Viper," Jade added with a sly gleam in her eye.

Jackie blushed. "Well, we call her Anne now."

"Anne Chan?" Jade asked. "Man, she got off rough when she married you. But… I have a confession to make."

"What is it?" Jackie asked suspiciously. With his niece, he had come to expect the worst.

"I didn't come down here _only_ to see you," she confessed. "I'm also going to spend two weeks in Hawaii!"

"By yourself?" Jackie asked. "Jade, I don't think that's a good-"

"Jack-_ie_!" she whined. "I'm not a kid anymore! I can take care of myself!"

"Oh, all right, Jade," he sighed. She had a point. Besides, he knew he'd lose the argument if he tried. He'd never been able to win a fight with her. "But-"

She looked at him suspiciously. "I was just going to say, we'll miss you," he assured her. Her face relaxed.

"Well, don't worry, Uncle Jackie! I still have a whole month with you!"

*~*~*

Valmont was still enjoying his freedom. He'd just gotten out of jail a week ago- incidentally, his forty-second birthday.

He spent most of his time lounging around his mansion and searching spellbooks for a way to turn himself 22- twenty years younger. He had no desire to turn back to crime. Who would have thought that jail would actually teach him a lesson?

And it wasn't as if he needed the money. That had never been a problem. He was filthy rich! It was the desire for more. More money, more power. Thank goodness his jail time had taught him to be satisfied with what he had. He knew he'd be able to live contentedly now.

Except for one thing. He had also realized he couldn't live without Jade.

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I'm living for the only thing I know

I'm running and not quite sure where to go

I don't know what I'm diving into

Just hanging by a moment here with you

*~*~*

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4 weeks later

Jade waved good-bye out of the window of the plane as it prepared for the flight to Hawaii. Jackie, Viper, Uncle and Tohru waved back. It had been a good time, and Jade was glad she'd made plans to go back after her vacation.

The man in the seat behind her watched Jackie with narrowed eyes. Guru had been hired by a man named Chang to take down Chan and his niece. Chang had been very successful in illegally smuggling jade, the stone, until the pair of them had stopped the operation. They had also thwarted another one of his plans. Chang was still in jail, but had found other means to get his revenge.

He'd been spying on them for three days, trying to catch one of them alone, when he'd found out about the girl's vacation. It would be the perfect time to get her, then he'd move on to Chan.

*~*~*

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What good timing, Jade thought. The plane had landed at eight o'clock at night. She'd made her way to the hotel and slept in. She'd arisen this morning, full of energy, and headed straight for the beach. She got up and wrapped her towel around her waist. She had a craving for a piña colada.

*~*~*

Valmont looked at his hands, then ran to the mirror. A twentyish young man stared back. "It worked!" he said out loud. He examined his reflection carefully. Nothing was wrong. As a matter of fact, he thought he looked quite handsome.

Valmont sighed with relief. He'd go search for Jade, now. But first… he glanced out the window. His mansion was right on a beautiful Hawaiian beach, next to a hotel full of happy tourists. The water and atmosphere looked so inviting, and he deserved a break- in the five weeks he'd been here, he hadn't gone swimming once.

*~*~*

Guru had his gun in his beach bag as he tailed Jade Chan to the beach. He set up a chair about fifteen feet away from her and relaxed, waiting for the right time. She walked away, but he didn't move. She'd be back, and as soon as she went in the water he'd shoot.

*~*~*

Valmont set up his lounge chair as far away from the girls who kept trying to catch his eye as possible. He was flattered, but the only girl he wanted to see right now was Jade. He sat in between a middle-aged man and an empty chair. For a few minutes he lay, basking in the sunlight, but something caught his eye. A beautiful young woman was walking his way, sipping a piña colada. She sat in the chair next to him and closed her eyes, ignoring Valmont's stares. 

The girl was _Jade_.

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There's nothing else to lose

Nothing left to find

There's nothing in the world

That could change my mind

There is nothing else

There is nothing else…

Jade could feel the guy next to her gaping at her. She shifted slightly, annoyed. She had no patience for this kind of thing. She opened her eyes and leaned over to tell him off, but her jaw dropped. "Valmont?"

He was caught off guard, but smiled charmingly. "Jade Chan. How nice to see you again."

"What are you doing here?" she asked. "And you got younger again, too. Are you just really accident prone or what?"

Valmont smirked at her. "No, dear Jade, this time it was intentional." He reached out and took her hand. "Just catching up on the best years of my life."

Valmont silently congratulated himself. He was handling this quite nicely- and he was actually touching her hand. It was sending warm, tingly feelings throughout his whole body.

Jade narrowed her eyes at him, as if trying to judge him. Then she yanked her hand away and stormed off, plunging into the ocean. Valmont gaped after her. Why had she…

She'd grown up a lot. Her hair was a bit longer, and she was tall now. She'd also developed a figure… a figure he couldn't help staring at…

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Focus! he mentally yelled at himself. Okay, she'd just stormed off. Of course; she had no idea how he felt about her. And last time they'd met, he'd nearly caused her death. He'd done that an awful lot, actually. He couldn't blame her for being mad.

Valmont followed her into the water. "Jade," he said, catching up with her.

She turned to him angrily. "What do you want?"

"I want…" Valmont hesitated. _Better wait on that one_, he told himself. He settled for part of the truth. "I want you to know I've changed. And I'm sorry I caused you so much trouble. I mean, you and your uncle, that it," he added quickly.

"Trouble? You've nearly gotten us killed! And it was no fluke, either. You've tried to cut my stomach open, burn my uncle, sic your little minions on us, and just generally been a real pain in the-"

"I know," Valmont cut in quickly. "And you have no idea how sorry I am, Jade. Really. I- I made a lot of mistakes. But I want to start anew. I want to apologize to you. Can you ever forgive me?"

Jade stared at him suspiciously. "What's the catch? Why do you care what I think?"

"I-" Valmont hesitated again. He slowly reached out and put his hands on her waist, drawing her close to him. "I care about _you_," he said in a rush before kissing her hard on the mouth.

*~*~*

Guru stealthily reached into his bag and drew out the gun. She was talking with some guy in the water, off her guard. Suddenly he reached forward and kissed her. Guru took aim and fired.

*~*~*

It took a second for Jade to realize what was going on. When she did, she shoved herself away from Valmont's arms. It was lucky she did, too, because a bullet plowed into the water right where she'd been standing. "You tried to trick me!" she shouted furiously, glaring at Valmont.

"No!" he cried. "I don't know who did that. I wouldn't try to hurt you!"

But she wasn't paying attention. She was scanning the beach. Her eyes fell on the man who'd been sitting on Valmont's other side. He was looking shocked that she'd evaded the bullet. "Of course you did," she called over her shoulder as she ran toward the shore. "You were right next to him, Valmont! You haven't changed at all!"

"Jade!" she heard him calling as he chased her. "Wait-"

She ignored him and launched herself at the man. She kicked him in the head and landed behind him. He fell off the lounge chair, but managed to keep holding onto the gun. Kneeling in the sand, he took aim. At point-blank range, he wouldn't miss.

Valmont tackled Guru from behind. The gun went off into the sand somewhere to Jade's right. He managed to wrench the gun from Guru's hand and tossed it away. He saw Jade running to get it.

Valmont and Guru began a furious fistfight. Valmont punched him in the eye, but Guru wildly swung a fist and hit his nose. "Arrgh!" Valmont howled. It was bleeding. He drew back his fist again, but Guru fell still. Jade was pointing the gun at him.

"Don't move," she ordered. Lifeguards came running over.

Valmont had a moment of fear where he wondered how much they'd seen. Jade was in a rather precarious position, and if they didn't realize the man had shot at her…

"Are you okay, miss?" one of the lifeguards asked, while two more grabbed the other man roughly by the arms. Another helped Valmont to his feet. "We saw the whole thing. You won't have to worry about him anymore; we'll make sure he's locked up."

"Thank you," Jade said shakily.

Valmont interrupted in anger. "If you saw the whole thing, why didn't you come _sooner_, you buffoons? I ought to-"

"Calm down," Jade hissed at him.

"Will you see her home safely?" the lifeguard asked him.

"I promise," he told them. "Come on, Jade." He grabbed her beach bag and his own, and began gently pushing her away. "Thanks for helping, chaps," he called back to the lifeguards.

"What are you doing?" Jade asked, twisting away once they were out of their sight.

"I'm bringing you home," Valmont told her. "Or rather, to my home, since I don't doubt you were staying in a hotel. I need to bring you somewhere where you can get cleaned up."

"What do you mean, cleaned up?" Jade asked him, glancing at his nose. "I think you're in worse shape then I am."

He wiped the blood ruefully. "Probably true, dear, but that first bullet grazed you." He touched her shoulder, where there was a long gash. She looked down at it in surprise.

"I didn't even notice," she said. "It can't be that bad. I'll be fine in the hotel-"

"You're coming with me," Valmont said firmly. She looked at him, startled, but didn't protest further. He led her down the beach a little ways, then up through a stand of palm trees. She looked at his mansion in obvious surprise.

"This is where you live?" she asked. "What was with all the crime, then?"

"I don't know," Valmont admitted sadly. They walked up the steps, and he led her into the bathroom.

"Thank you," she said suddenly. "You saved me. I'm sorry I thought-"

"You had reason to think so," he broke in. He wet a towel and wiped her cut with it. She flinched.

"Sorry," he said quickly. "I'm sorry if I'm hurting you-"

She shook her head. "You have to; it's okay." He gently cleaned the blood away. The cut wasn't bad at all, and she simply wrapped it up with some gauze while Valmont tried to clean up his own bloody nose. It wasn't broken, thank goodness.

Jade suddenly became very aware that they were both wearing their bathing suits. She had brought a cover-up with her, luckily, and pulled that over her head, while Valmont changed in his bedroom. When he came out, she was sitting at his kitchen table. "We need to talk," she said simply.

Valmont sighed and sat down next to her. "I know. Should I start from the beginning?" She nodded.

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Desperate for changing

Starving for truth

Closer to where I started

Chasing after you

"Do you remember when we first met?" Valmont asked her. Jade thought a minute.

"It was in the U.S. mint," she said. "You tried to roast Jackie with the dragon talisman."

Valmont winced. "Well, I won't deny that, but it wasn't the first time we'd ever met. I first saw you in 1977." Jade rolled her eyes.

"I don't know what you're on," she said, "but I wasn't even _alive_ in- ooooh. Now I remember! It was the rabbit talisman! And the time hole!"

"I was eleven years old at the time," Valmont reminded her. "And so were you. Does that make it any easier for you to understand why I fell in love with you from the start?"

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I'm falling even more in love with you

Letting go of all I've held onto

I'm standing here until you make me move

I'm hanging by a moment here with you

Uh, _no_. It did not, and Jade told Valmont in so many words.

"Are you crazy?" she asked. "I mean, you were eleven. You do not fall in love with someone at eleven. And now? You can't be in love with me now. I mean, you would never have tried to kill me if you were in _love_ with me. And you're way older than I am. What are you, forty?"

"Not anymore," Valmont told her. He spread his arms. "See? I'm 22, the same as you. It took me forever to find the spell, but Jade- I did it for _you_."

Her head was spinning. This was hard to take. "So- you're saying- you've been in love with me for…"

"Thirty years," Valmont told her gently. "And for the past 10, all I've been able to think about is you. I can't believe some of the things I've done. And I don't blame you for hating me. But if there's even a chance of… well, you know, please. Please tell me now. Because now that I've seen you, there's no way I'll be able to let you go. If I totally disgust you and you can never forgive me, let me know now, so I can go drown myself." With one hand, he indicated the Pacific Ocean through the big window behind him.

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I'm living for the only thing I know

I'm running and not quite sure where to go

I don't know what I'm diving into

Just hanging by a moment here with you

Jade laughed. She knew it was the wrong thing to do, and Valmont looked shocked and hurt, but she couldn't help it. "I'm sorry," she gasped through her giggles. "I know this is rotten of me, but- it's just- ironic!"

"What?" he asked, puzzled.

"You-" she giggled again, then quieted herself down. "I just thought, for the longest time- I just thought I was a stupid little girl with a stupid little crush. I mean, you were so much older than me, and you seemed to hate me, and I didn't know what I was thinking, but…"

Valmont had to force himself to keep breathing. "Jade? Are you saying you…"

"Yeah," she responded. "I thought it was just me being silly, and wishful, and… I don't know, I thought I was crazy. I can't believe how dumb we've been."

Valmont got out of his chair and pulled her to her feet. He hugged her tightly. "Jade, I can't believe…"

He stopped as she broke out in a gale of giggles again. "Sorry," she choked out. "I just can't stop thinking about what fools we were! Also…"

"Also what?" he asked, eyebrows raised.

"Also, you don't seem to be doing anything about it," she replied coyly.

He took the hint.

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Just hanging by a moment

Hanging by a moment…

Hanging by a moment…

Hanging by a moment here with you…

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A/N: Okay! ^_^ I would absolutely adore reviews, despite the lovely comments I've already gotten. Oh, and on that subject, many people point out that this is, cough, an unusual pairing, but no flames so far! So _giant_ thanks! Of course, maybe someone should have knocked some sense into me; I've now planned another way for Jade and Valmont to get together without having an upsetting age difference! ::evil laughs:: So despite thinking I would never write in this category again, you may yet see another story by me in a few months! After I've finished my other ones, of course. ::sweatdrop::

Also, this story has a sequel up, written by my friend Dragon's 1 Girl. Except… ::frowns and pokes D1G:: she doesn't think she's going to continue. ::sigh:: I might pick it up again, but more likely next time I write JCA it will be the fic I was talking about up there.

Well, rock on! (Yes, horror of horrors, I've picked up bad slang.)

~DarkShadowFlame


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